The White Devil

Edgar award winning novelist Domenic Stansberry has returned with a chilling new noir: The White Devil. 

The White Devil  tells the story of  an aspiring American actress who—together with  her brother— is implicated in a series of crimes dating back to their childhood.  The novel begins in Rome, among the American ex-patriot community, and from there follows the siblings’ deadly obsession with an aging Italian movie star and her charismatic husband.

Stansberry’s protagonist, Vicki Wilson, narrates the story in a voice alternately intimate and distant, tender and cold,  ultimately  hiding as much as she reveals.  The result is an elegant tour de force, a psychological noir exploring the murky depths of unwholesome impulse and erotic desire.

Stansberry is no stranger to such terrian.   An earlier novel, The Confession, received the Edgar for its portrait of Marin County psychologist accused of murdering his mistress.   Stansberry’s North Beach Mystery series—featuring San Francisco investigator Dante Mancuso—also received similar acclaim.  A book from that series, The Ancient Rain, was named by Booklist as one of the best books of the past decade.

 
PRAISE FOR DOMENIC STANSBERRY

“Suspense… illicit passion… murder. . . Stansberry does it with originality, through the freshness of his imagery, and the lyricism of his lament.”  The New York Times on The Last Days of Il Duce.

“Brilliantly imagined . . . packs an emotional wallop genre fiction rarely delivers.”  Kirkus (Starred Review) on The Ancient Rain.

“Fascinating, beautifully written—an enviable achievement.”  San Francisco Chronicle on Manifesto for the Dead.

“This series... .revitalizes the classic detective story, injecting it with a noir sensibility that both evokes the old masters and seems altogether new." Booklist on 
The North Beach Mystery Series.

“Compelling … equal parts contemporary crime fiction and dark existential poetry.” Publishers Weekly  on Naked Moon.

“A masterful novel  . . . by a master of the genre.”   Book Reporter. Com on The Confession.

"In the tradition of Graham Greene, ... a moving chronicle of humanity, disquietingly black and totally absorbing." Los Angeles Times on The Spoiler

"A neo-classic among pulp fiction fans." January Magazine on The Confession.

"A gripping novel... incendiary.... this gritty, noirish exercise in murder and drugs feels uncomfortably like the real thing" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) on Chasing the Dragon

"Takes a seemingly soulless contemporary phenomenon--dot-com speculation--and gives it the same chilling, metaphorical resonance that the postwar noir masters gave to a darkened city street or a tilted Venetian blind. " BOOKLIST (Starred Review)on The Big Boom